Typewriting machine



Patented May 31, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFrc mawm'rmc MAQBINE William F. Helmond, West Hartford, Conn.; as signor to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation ot Delaware Application December 14, 1933, Serial No. 702,301 14 Claims. (01. 191-102) This invention relates to the keys of typewriting machines, and, for illustration, the inventionis shown embodied in a well-known type of key, provided with a socket which fits upon the stem of a type-operating lever.

In a typewriter key, the character-bearing disk is usually capped by a glass disk. The hardness of the glass prevents it from being scratched or marred, and hence glass keys are esteemed for 10 use on trial machines, as they do not become injured. The character-disk and the glass disk have ,usually been placed in a metal cup, and held in place by an annular key-cap, the latter having an inturned flange to hold down the glass 15 disk. .Theseflanges have been punishing the fingers of the operators for over fifty years.

Flangeless keys have beenintroduced, which are molded all in one piece, and fastened directly upon the key-stem, but they have not tended to 2 supplant the glass-disk keys. The molded key,

being made of celluloid or other inflammable material, is apt to become ignited. Moreover, it

is easily scratched or defaced, and is also liable to soften from heat and become misshapen.

The glass key tops or disks are usually cut roughly from sheet-glass, and subjected to finishing operations, and, besides the raised flanges, have the further objection'oi being flat, and therefore not fitted to the finger of the operator.

so It is one of the objects of the present inven tion to produce a typewriter key which overcomes these common objections. 7

One of the features of the invention is a keytop in the form of a concaved glass disk which is 35 adapted to the finger and is not objectionably flanged and is cheaply produced and readily secured in place. a

In the upper face of the glass, the comer is ground away to form an annular depression, in

40 which fits an inturned fastening flange of the annular metal keycap; said flange being preferably flat and flushwith the glass disk at its border. No raised portion is encountered by the operator's finger; there is a broad concaved 5 bearing surface of glass, having a flat metal border of moderate width, thereby avoiding undue reduction in the diameter of the key-top exposed between the inner edges of the flange.-

' To secure this width of the glass top, it is made 50 of the same diameter as the key-cup, and. surmounts the same, the glass being bedded upon a concaved pressed cork bed, the latter having the form of a disk which flts within the key-cup.

The border of the glass top overlies the brim of a the key-cup. The glass top is held firmly upon the key by the flanged annular cap, and the area of the character-bearing surface is much extended as compared with glass keys now in connnon use; while the width of the inturned flange of the cap may be reduced from common practice, 5 and the same rendered inconspicuous.

In some keyboards, the entire diameter of every key may be somewhat reduced, thus enlarging the space or well down into which the operator must dip his finger; and the finger is therefore not liable to catch upon any adjoining key, at either front, back or one side or the other; which is a substantial advantage, especially where it is desired to operate the keyboard without sight of the keys.

-The bed for the glass top is a gasket that is inexpensively cut out from a sheet of pressed cork or cork-compound, havinguniform thick-- mess. The bottom of the metal key-cup is dished or concaved, to correspond with the convex bottom of the glass top, which isof uniform thickness. Thus the dished glass is solidly supported, and danger of breakage is avoided. The cork gasket is preferably pressed into concaved form beforebeing placed in the cup. The cork is some what yielding, thus tending to cushion the key-touch and minimize the fatigue of operating the typewriter. The cork recovers its normal height when the pressure is released;

In one form of the invention, the character may be printed upon the bottom of the glass lens. Said bottom may be frosted or otherwise prepared to take the ink with which the character is printed. When the character is printed upon the bottom .of the glass, the light pressure between the frosted bottom of the glass andthe top of the cork gasket will prevent the glass from becoming accidentally rotated. The same is true when a key-paper is used. e

The key-paper may consist of a thin card, which, after printing the character thereon, may

be pressed into concave form, to form the bed or the upper layer of the bed which supports the concaved clear key-gla s.

The character may be printed directly upon the cork disk, and the latter may be stained or colored to harmonize with the color of the casing in which the typewriting-machine keys are used.

If a printed key-glass is'employed, the pressed cork gasket may be stained or colored. This coloring of the cork will give a beautiful efiect through either clear or frosted glass.

From a large clear-glass dish, of uniform thickness, and of the same concavity that is desired in the finished key, many key-glasses may be cut or formed. The glass-key top can be produced from any portion of the dish, and will be found to have the desired concaved form. The keyglass is finished to proper size and given the border-groove in its top for receiving the fastening flange.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing, a

Figure 1 is a sectional front elevation of a typewriter key embodying the present improvements in one form.

Figure 2 is a perspective of a key-glass having a frosted bottom upon which the character is printed.

Figure 3 is a perspective of a compressed cork bed for the glass.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a concaved key-paper. a

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation showing the invention in a different form from Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a plan of the key seen at Figure 1 or Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a sectional view illustrating a step in the dividing out of a key-glass from a complete blown-glass globe or bulb, the diamond being indicated as cutting the key-circle in the blown globes Figure 8 illustrates the manner of grinding the border-recess or groove in the top of the keyglass by means of an abrasive.

Figure 9 shows the division of a blown-glass globe into segments, preparatory to dividing them up into key-glasses.

Figure 10 illustrates the dividing of a segment up into many key-glasses.

Figure 11 shows a cork gasket stained with the desired color, and having the key-character printed directly thereon.

Figure 12 represents the assembled key as being provided with the stained or imprinted cork gasket of Figure 11.

Upon a key-lever stem I0 is forced down a socket-portion l2, formed in the bottom of a key cup l3. 'The latter has circular rim or sides I4, and its bottom is concaved, as in Figures 1, 5,

and 12 to correspond with the curvature of the key-glass.

Within the cup is placed a bed l5 of pressed cork-compound, whose bottom is of spherical curvature, fitting the bottom of the key-cup l3.

Upon the bed I5 is placed a transparent glass with concave top as at I1, and with convex bottom as at l8, the glass being inexpensively made of uniform thickness in the manner described herein. 7 I

Upon the bottom of the glass may be printed a character IS. The bottom may be frosted as indicated at 20, prior to printing the character.

In the top of the glass is ground an annularrecess 2|, to receive a fastening flange 22, formed upon a metal annular cap 23, which is fastened I down by inturned ears or clasps 24, that hold the 'glass and bed i5 down upon the concaved bottom i3 of the cup, and also preferably in contact with the top of the key-lever stem ID at 25.

The glass i6 may be the same diameter as the cup i3, and overlie the brim of the cup as seen at Figures 1 and 5; thereby afiording a maximum diameter to the key-glass for visibility, and also favoring the use of a key of. somewhat less diameter than the common key. The width of the flange 22 is very slight, affording a relief to the eye, and the character-surface of the key may be very broad.

Said flange 22 may be flat and flush with the top of the key-glass at its border, so that a practically unbroken mainly concave surface extends the full width of the key.

At Figure 5, there is employed a disk 26 beneath the glass, having thereon a character as seen at Figure 4. This character-disk is made of card and printed, and then pressed into concave condition before being If desired, an adhesive may be employed as seen at 27, to hold the character-disk and cork bed together; and the glass is held down with such pressure as to prevent the character-disk from being accidentally rotated, this steadiness being due to the friction of the cork bed upon the bottom of the cup. When the character-disk is employed, the character is not printed upon the bot tom of the key-glass, and the frosting may also be omitted.

The described glass-keytops may be made by blowing a glass globe or bubble 28 of the desired wall-thickness, and dimension desired for the key-top. The diameter of the blown-glass globe may be say three inches or a little less.

The cooled globe may be divided into major segments if desired. The major segments may have any desired contour. They may be dished or of circular form as seen at Figure 9.

Then each segment may be cut up into smaller key-top-outlining segments to, form many unfinished key-tops or glasses, as seen at Figure 10.

.If desired, the ke -glasses may be out directly from the-globe 28, without first dividing the latter into major segments 28*. This is illustrated at Figure 7; the cutting being done by a rotary tool 29 having a diamond marker or cutter 30 herein. The glasses may be derived or separated from the bulb (or from a segment) by means similar to those employed in separating flat key-glasses from sheet-glass. Then the recess or niche may be cut in the edge by the use of a hollow grinder 3121 as seen at Figure 8, using an abrasive mater There is thus key at low cost.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A typewriter-key having a glass top shap' 'i with a brim and a crown which over tops said brim, said glass being curved bodily to make the crown concave and to make the glass of uniform thickness through the crown, a bed which is curved bodily to conformto said glass, said glass resting upon said bed, a cup having a concave bottom upon which said bodily curved bed rests, and an annular cap with an inturned flange bearingupon said brim of the glass top and being flush with the crown thereof, said annular cap being removabiy attached to said cup to hold the produced an efficient, durable I parts together.

having a concavity of the brim and being flush with the crown thereof, said bed having a character inscribed thereon, the friction of the glass upon the character-bearing bed, efiected by means of said annular cap, holdof the wall of the cup, affording a broadened exposure of the surface ofthe key afiorded by said glass key-top, said glass key-top having an annular border-recess into which said flange is sunken to be flush with the key-surface, said recess forming said glass with a brim upon which said flange bears and a crown which overtops said brim to be flush with said flange, a key-character marking being provided between said glass keytop and bed.

4. A typewriter-key having a cup, a glass keytop 01 equal breadth with said cup, said glass key-top being curved bodily to aflord a concave top, a yielding bed in said cup upon which said glass key-top rests, said bed being proportioned to space the glass key-top from the underlying brim of the cup, and an annular key-cap holding said glass key-top down upon said bed, the keycap having an inturned glass-holding flange of a width about equal to the thickness of the wall of the cup, aflording a broadened exposure of the concave surface of the key aflorded by said glass key-top, said glass key-top having an annular border-recess in which said flange is sunken to be flush with the key-surface, said recess forming said glass key-top with a brim upon which said flange bears and a crown which overtops said brim to be flush with said flange, a key-charactermarking being provided between said glass keytop and bed.

' 5. A typewriter-key having, in combination, an externally-concave glass top of practically uniform thickness, a gasket upon which said glasstop rests, a cup in which said gasket is retained, said gasket being curved bodily and the bottom of the cup being concave to correspond with the curvature of said glass top, and an annular cap having an inturned flange tor engaging over the border of said glass top, said annular cap being removably attached to said cup, to keep the parts together, the glass top being supported upon the gasket to overlie the rim of he cup and said flange being about equal in breadth to the wall of the cup, aflording a broadened exposure of the surface of the key, said glass top being provided with a border-recess which shapes the glass top with a rim, upon which said cap-flange bears, and with a crown which is flush with said capflange. 6. A typewriter-key having an externally-con cave glass top of practically uniform thickness, and an annular metal cap provided with an inturned flange, said glass top being provided with a border-recess which shapes said glass, top with a brim, upon which said key-cap flange bears, and also shapes the glass top into a crown which is flush with said flange, said key-cap having means for interlocking with a support for the glass top to hold the parts together.

7. A typewriter-key having an extemally-concave glass top of practically uniform thickness, a key-cup and a bed therein for supporting said glass top, and an annular cap having an inturned glass-holding lip, said glass top being provided with a border-recess for said lip, said lip being thereby rendered flush withthe glass top, said annular cap being removably attached to said cup for holding the parts together.

8. A typewriter-key having an externally-concave glass top of practically uniform thickness, a base by means of which the top is supported, and an annular cap attached to said base and having an inturned glass-holding flange, said glass top being provided with a border-recess forming a brim upon which said key-cap flange bears, and also forming the concave top into a crown substantially flush with said flange.

9. A typewriter-key having an externally-concave glass top of practical-1y uniform thickness, a cup and a bed therein by means of which said glass top is supported, and an annular key-cap having an inturned flange which is sunken flush with said glass top, and is removably attached to said cup to keep the parts together, said glass top being furthermore provided witha border which shapes the glass with a brim upon which the key-cap flange bears, and which also shapes the concave top into a crown which is flush with said flange.

10. A curved-surface glass key-top of practically uniform thickness for a typewriter-key or the like, one side of said key-top being provided with a border-recess to form a brim, and a crown which overtops said brim, whereby said crown and a key-top-holding flange bearing on said brim may be'flush at the periphery of the crown.

11. A typewriter key having a cup, a bed in the cup, a glass top resting on said bed, said glass top being formed with a brim and a crown that overtops said brim, and an annular cap with an inturned flange which bears upon said glass brim and is substantially flush with said crown, said annular cap being attached to said cup to hold the parts together.

12. A typewriter key having a cup, a yieldable bed in the cup, a glass top resting on said bed but overlying and spaced above the rim of the cup, said glass top being formed with a brim and a crown that overtops said brim, and an annular cap with an inturned flange which bears upon said glass brim and is substantially flush with said glass crown, said annular cap being attached to said cup to hold the parts together.

13. A typewriter key having a cup, a yieldable bed in the cup, a glass top resting on said bed, said glass top being formed with a brim and a crown that overtops said brim, means for preventing relative. rotation between the glass top and the yieldable bed, and an annular cap with an inturned flange which bears upon said glass brim and is substantially flush with said glass crown, said annular cap being attached to said cup to hold the parts together.

i WILLIAM F. HELMOND. 

